Adhesive bandage having container of medicament carried by removable protector strip



Jan. 10, 1967 A. s. ANTONIK 3,297,032

ADHESIVE BANDAGE HAVING CONTAINER OF MEDICAMENT CARRIED BY REMOVABLE PROTECTOR STRIP Filed Feb. 6, 1964 INVENTOR. ALAN S. ANTONHK 721mm Fmm ditty.

United States Patent ADHESIVE BANDAGE HAVING CONTAINER 0F MEDICAMENT CARRIED BY REMOVABLE PROTECTQR STRIP Alan S. Autonik, 609 W. Elk Grove Blvd, Ell: Grove Village, Ill. 60007 Filed Feb. 6, 1964, Ser. No. 343,023 6 Claims. (Cl. 128-268) The invention relates to improvement in adhesive bandages and is particularly concerned with the construction and assembly of an adhesive bandage having a medicament integrally associated with it.

Heretofore, adhesive bandages have been impregnated with a medicament but have had limited medicinal effect owing to the medicament becoming stale through deterioration or evaporation of some or all of its ingredients. This has restricted the field of useful impregnated medicaments to only a few, if any. For example, the exposure of such antibiotics as cetyl pyridinium chloride to atmosphere greatly reduces its eifectiveness, whereas certain other medicaments, such as benzalkonium chloride must have moisture to be effective. In other known instances, such as when a bandage is impregnated, for example, with iodine, the iodine tends to become concentrated, and when the iodine impregnated bandage is applied to the skin, a caustic reaction often results. In instances of non-irnpregnated bandages, it is necessary to initially apply a medicament to the area to be covered prior to application of the bandage. In either event, the medication is diflicult or inconvenient to apply effectively by the layman or ineffective in use.

The applicant has provided the herein disclosed bandage with a medicament which is integrally connected to the bandage and which is sealed in a rupturable capsule or other encapsulation or container protected from atmosphere prior to its being released at the time of use. As a consequence of applicants medicated bandage, a desired proper, predetermined amount of medication, in its original intended potency, is made available for instant use. The medicament can be a salve or a fluid.

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a novelly constructed medicated bandage.

Another object of the invention is to provide an adhesive bandage with a novel rupturable container for a medicament which is capable for use in an efficient manner by delivering the medicament at it intended strength to the wound.

Another object of the invention is to provide a me dicated bandage which is not difficult or expensive to manufacture, is easy to apply and capable of delivering medicament to the area to be treated at the intended strength of the medicament, notwithstanding most conditions of storage of the bandage prior to use.

The structure by means of which the above noted and other advantages and objects of the invention are at tained will be described in the following specification, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, showing preferred illustrative embodiments of the invention, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of an adhesive bandage embodying the features of the invention.

FIGURE 2 is another perspective view of the adhesive bandage, showing the protective layers lifted off the pad.

FIGURE 3 is a side elevational view of the adhesive bandage prior to use.

FIGURE 4 is a side elevational view of the bandage, with the protective layers removed.

FIGURE 5 is a view similar to FIGURE 3, showing a modified structure embodying the invention.

FIGURE 6 is another View similar to FIGURE 3,

showing another modified embodiment of the invention.

Referring now in detail to the accompanying drawings which illustrate exemplary embodiments of the invention, in which like characters of reference indicate like structural parts, the bandage includes a strip 11 of thin material having an adhesive coating on its under surface and to the medial portion of which there is attached an absorbent pad 12. The projecting end portions of the adhesive strip 11 normally are protected by layers 13 and 14 of thin material, such as a fabric, one of which, as in this case 13, is of suflicient length to overlay the bottom surface of pad 12.

The area of layer 13 overlying the pad carries on its surface opposed to said pad a mass of medicament 15 that normally is enclosed in an envelope or otherwise, as for example, by a film 16 of thin rupturable plastic material which is bonded firmly to the layer 13, as by being heat sealed thereto. The medicament may be a salve or a fluid. In FIGURE 3 there is illustrated the enclosure of a salve, whereas in FIGURE 5 the layer 13a is indented at 17 to receive a fluid which is covered by film 16; and in FIGURE 6, the medicament is contained in an envelope or sac 18.

In order to use the adhesive bandage, the envelope 18 or film 16 is ruptured by the application of finger pressure over the pad so as to release the medicament, which then adheres to or is absorbed by the pad 12. The protective layers 13 and 14 then are removed and the bandage applied to the skin in the customary manner.

Applicant has established through laboratory tests that the encasing of the medicament until just prior to use of the bandage serves to maintain the medicament fresh, and as a result thereof, the full therapeutic value of the medicament is realized. In conducting such tests, applicant inoculated several blood agar plates with staphlococcus bacteria. One plate was partially covered with a plain sterile bandage; another plate was covered with a bandage having a mercurochrome impregnated pad, and a third plate was covered with a bandage embodying applicants invention having a sac filled with liquid antiseptic and the sac ruptured prior to application thereof on the plate. The plates were incubated and the effectiveness of the bandages measured by the zone of inhibition of bacterial colonization. In the series of tests so conducted, applicant concluded that the plates to which the plain sterile bandages were applied showed no inhibition of bacterial growth; the plates to which the mercurochrome pad bandages were applied showed little or no inhibition of bacterial colonization; and the plates to which applicants bandages were applied showed large zones of inhibition of bacterial colonization.

Applicant concluded from such tests, as well as from the various literature dealing with antiseptic inhibition of bacterial colonization that in the case of most antiseptics, the antiseptic is most effective when administered in a wet dressing. Heretofore, patient applied wet dressings resulted in the application of either too much or too little antiseptic, so that either the antiseptic was ineffective or, if applied too vigorously, led to tissue damage and secondary reactions.

With applicants bandage, however, the antiseptic dose is always effectively predetermined and applied in its freshest form and with the most beneficial therapeutic effect, and, in comparison with other means of application, there are no bottles to break, no applicators to become lost, no sprays not capable of being directed to the wound and only to the wound, and no large amounts of antiseptics available to patients, particularly to children.

Although applicant has disclosed exemplary embodiments of the invention herein, it is to be understood that the description thereof is intended to be illustrative only, rather than restrictive, as many details of the structures disclosed may be modified or changed without departure from the spirit or scope of the invention. Accordingly, it isnot desired to be restricted to the exact constructions described, except as limited in the following appended claims, wherein I claim:

1. A medicated device for attachment to the skin of the human body comprising a cover sheet of thin material having an adhesive on one surface, an absorbent pad of less length than said cover sheet attached to the adhesive surface, a protective layer of thin material attached to the adhesive surface and overlying the pad, and a rupturable container of medicament carried by said layer and lying against said pad.

2. The medicated device recited in claim 1, in which the rupturable container is an envelope.

3. The medicated device recited in claim 1, in which the rupturable container comprises a film of thin plastic material overlaying the medicament and bonded on the layer.

4. An adhesive bandage comprising a strip of thin material having an adhesive on one surface thereof, an absorbent pad attached to the adhesive surface on said strip medially of its ends, protective layers of thin material adhesively secured to the end portions of said strip and at least one of which layers overlays the pad, a medicament carried by the overlying portion of the layer in substantial contact with the pad, and means normally enclosing said medicament.

5. The adhesive bandage recited in claim 4, in which the enclosing means is rupturable to release the medicament onto the pad.

6. The adhesive bandage recited in claim 5, in which the layers are removable after the medicament has been released.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,595,60 61 5/1952 Pohjola m. 128268 2,714,382. 8/1955 Alcala 128268 RICHARD A. GAUDET, Primary Examiner.

L. W. TRAPP, Assistant Examiner. 

1. AN MEDICATED DEVICE FOR ATTACHMENT TO THE SKIN OF THE HUMAN BODY COMPRISING A COVER SHEET OF THIN MATERIAL HAVING AN ADHESIVE ON ONE SURFACE, AND ABSORBENT PAD OF LESS LENGTH THAN SAID COVER SHEET ATTACHED TO THE ADHESIVE SURFACE, A PROTECTIVE LAYER OF THIN MATERIAL ATTACHED TO THE ADHESIVE SURFACE AND OVERLYING THE PAD, AND A RUPTURABLE CONTAINER OF MEDICAMENT CARRIED BY SAID LAYER AND LYING AGAINST SAID PAD. 